Kastornoe Pocket

The Kastornoe Pocket was an encirclement campaign of World War II that lasted from 1 to 12 February 1943. Six German infantry divisions under the command of Ernst-Eberhard Hell were encircled by Soviet Red Army forces around Kastornoe, and the divisions found themselves under attack from eight Soviet infantry divisions and one tank division. The bloody fighting lasted for eleven days, and the Soviets eventually forced the Germans to surrender, wiping out a decent-sized German force and clearing out one pocket of Axis resistance.